Article

The Unexpected: Kaleena Ladeairous

Published on Mon, 2012-03-26 12:55

By:

Heidi Jones

“I want to show my gym what I can do. My girlfriend and I take classes with them and they see us suffer."

To say Kaleena Ladeairous is shocked to be at the top the North East Leaderboard for the CrossFit Games Open workouts this year would be a giant understatement. This 26 year old from just outside New York City thought she was training for the CrossFit Games 2013. Then something happened — after Open Workout 12.3, she was the top female in the North East Region.

“It’s pretty crazy,” she says. “I was not expecting this whatsoever. It’s surreal to even be talking to you. I mean my first competition ever in CrossFit was Regionals last year.”

Ladeairous found CrossFit when her girlfriend and business partner, Maria Vulcano, introduced her to the sport. The first workout was Fight Gone Bad, and she says she fell in love with a sport she realized she had been doing all her life.

“I loved going to a gym and loved the functional movements,” she explains. “When I saw powerlifts and a clock on the board, I knew I had found my sport.”

Since then she has never looked back. She has been training for nearly two years and just nine months ago opened her own box, CrossFit Port Chester, with her girlfriend, Maria.

“I want to show my gym what I can do. My girlfriend and I take classes with them and they see us suffer. My mom and dad come to every competition. I couldn’t do it without any of them...my box, my girlfriend, or my family.”

This same gratitude has spilled over to the athletes at her box. She remembers the pressure of Regionals and wanted to replicate that for her members. So, she takes her athletes to other affiliates in the New York area so they can get a feel of what it is like to work out with a different set of athletes’ eyes on them. This seems to be working as their team for the Games was in 5th place after Open Workout 12.4.

As for Ladeairous, it was muscle-ups that bumped her out of Regionals last year. She couldn’t do even one. That won’t be a problem this year, as she made it through 15 muscle-ups in 12.4. She achieved 118 reps on 12.5 and finished the Open in 3rd place in the region.

“Give 100 percent, it’s only 10 to 20 minutes of your life,” she says. “It’s fun to see how long you can be uncomfortable.”

With a couple of marathons under her belt, she’s used to being uncomfortable. As for her competition future, Ladearious says she’s still soaking in how far she has come in such a short time. In fact, she is so new to this sport; each competition sets a new personal best. Time will tell if 2012 is indeed her year at the CrossFit Games.